Brand
by Scarpaw
Summary: Demon- that was his brand, what he was. What his neighbors called him, what his friends called him, what his own parents called him. Yet, as he meets a man with the same brand as him, he learns resistance, and the ability to realize that... Sum. inside!


...I should really be working on my other stories... *Sigh* Oh well.

I'm not really sure what brought this one shot on. I just randomly started typing it earlier, and just finished it a little while ago... I kind of like it though...

Because, however permanent they may seem, brands aren't, no matter who says what.

This stars Young!Remus Lupin and Edward Elric (Post CoS) and it contains OC's...

(And also, to clear confusion ahead of time, Fleet (the antagonist and an OC with a horribly written accent/speech type) is about fifteen years old or so and Kat is Remus' age)

Enjoy!

_20.4.11-_ I should also mention (because posting things at night I happen to miss notes) that this is slight AU, for both parts.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter**

_**Brand**_

_Demon- that was his brand, what he was. What his neighbors called him, what his friends called him, what his own parents called him. Yet, as he meets a man with the same brand as him, he learns resistance, and the ability to realize that what he was called was just a brand- a brand that he had the ability to disprove._

"Oi, doggie, fetch!" A voice sneered, with what felt like a stick colliding sharply with the back of Remus' head. He could feel the tears already burning in his eyes, and he struggled to force them back. He was ten, almost eleven, and almost-eleven year olds did _not_ cry!

"Hey watch it, Fleet," A girl's voice came softly as Remus slowed to a stop, the voice trembling with fear. "D-Don't get him mad."

"Or what?" Fleet laughed as Remus half-turned to face the kids. "I ain't 'fraid o' no doggie _demon_ bitin' me!" Remus flinched at the carelessly thrown word, even though he knew he should be used to it by now. It had already been a year since the accident happened, but it had only been a few months ago that the community had found out- well, the magical part of the community anyways.

For, you see, one year ago tomorrow, was the day that Remus Lupin was attacked by and turned into a werewolf. Two days from now would be the anniversary of when he woke up in St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, to the angry noise of his parents arguing outside of his room with the Healers, his father screaming at the top of his lungs for the whole ward- no, the whole hospital -to hear, that '_That beast- that __**demon**__ is no son of mine!_' One week from now would be a year from the day he came home from St. Mungo's, to a house where his parents would avoid him, not making eye contact.

Avoid eye contact with a son whose eyes were slowly turning yellow.

Two weeks from now would be the first time they tried taking him to a church- Muggle, at that –to try and primitively get rid of the demon that had itself so integrated into their son's diet, body, and mind. Four days from this day, would be eleven months after the first time he was barricaded in his family's dark, dank basement, to suffer the pain and suffering of his very first transformation, alone.

Remus opened his mouth, about to say something to try and get them to leave him alone, when Kat- the girl who had spoken -shied away from him, and Fleet placed himself in front of her in both a defensive and offensive manner. Fleet glared at him, and Remus honestly didn't know the reason why his mood had changed so quickly.

"Fleet, I told you not to get him mad!" Kat whimpered, curling into herself a little. "I don't want him to bite me!"

And then why she was so frightened made sense. He had read (in the books on werewolves that he could find) that with young werewolves, that their features changed slowly before the full moon. His teeth must have elongated to a point where it was noticeable, and the sharp canines had scared Kat.

"You stay away from her, demon," Fleet growled, right hand clenching together to form a fist. "Don'tcha even think about turnin' Kat inta' a freak like you, kapeesh?"

And even though he had gave some form of assent that, yes, he understood, that night and the next morning Remus found himself prodding a very swollen black eye. He sighed and let his hand fall from his swollen eye as he inspected the rest of his image in the cracked bathroom mirror.

His eyes were a bright amber color, and he knew that by the end of the day they'd probably be the bright yellow that was associated with wolves. His canines were just forming the sharp points at the tips, but it would be by the end of the next day before that finished. Nothing else seemed very prominent, but his ears did look a bit pointy, and his face looked a bit more angular… But he could chalk that up to paranoia. He would be perfectly fine to go outside today. Maybe not tomorrow, but today was fine.

Remus was taking the long way around the town to get to the forest at the edge of it. He couldn't explain it, but ever since he had been bitten he was drawn more and more to the forest. He wanted to say that it was out of natural curiosity, like from any other normal boy his age, but he knew that wasn't true.

It was the demon- the wolf -inside of him, drawing him to the forest. To explore what he should be exploring during the night of freedom underneath its pale yellow goddess in the sky, and not trapped in a dismally dark prison made of concrete walls.

"H-Hey!" A voice echoed, catching Remus' attention. It sounded close to the forest, but from what he could tell, it wasn't being aimed at him, but somebody else as more echoes reached him as he neared.

"Stop that!" Getting closer, Remus could hear that it was an older male- nowhere near as old as his parents, but not as old as him either, speaking. Also, Remus could hear the sound of what seemed to be stones hitting flesh.

"You fucking brats! I said stop, damnit!" The older male shouted once more, and Remus rounded the corner to see his very own tormentors tormenting a person that was a couple of inches, maybe half a foot, taller than Remus himself. But as the boy looked up, past the hands that were protecting his face from the sharp stones that Fleet and his motley crew were chucking at him, Remus noticed what the very thing that had undoubtedly set Fleet and his gang on the boy in the first place.

His eyes.

The boys' eyes were the color of molten gold, maybe even a bit brighter. But, nonetheless, it was a clear marking- the same brand as the one he had, hidden in the form of scars under his shirt. His own clear cut sign of what he was.

A demon like himself.

As if noticing his presence, the other boy turned towards Remus, with half a scowl plastered on his face.

"Hey brat, you better not be joining in on the stoning of the witch either," He scowled even more when the kids laughed at what he compared his situation to.

"N-No," Remus replied, not really wanting to draw attention to himself, but it was inevitable, because it was as if Fleet had a demon radar built into him, because he turned around like a flash, almond eyes narrowing at Remus in hate and disgust. Fleet tossed a particularly big rock up and down in his hand, a menacing gleam shining in his eyes.

"Oi demon," He taunted. "What's the freak doin' here? Shouldn't you be out killin' cats an' causin' harm to other people's fam'lies?" Fleet pulled his arm back, ready to throw the rock with impeccably good aim right at the center of Remus' forehead, when…

They boy he and his crew had been beating up snaked out his right arm and grabbed Fleet's arm in a grip that must have been tight, as Fleet gasped in what had to be pain, because Fleet wasn't one to show fear. He dropped the rock just as the boy said,

"You should pick on kids your own size." He had an odd look in his darkened eyes that gave Remus the impression that he was debating on whether or not to break Fleet's arm when he gave a disgusted sigh and released Fleet's hand.

"Get going." The boy snarled, lips curling to reveal his canines- not pointed like Remus' own, but still had some edge to it. "Now, or I'll make sure your parents hear about this."

Fleet cradled his wrist for a moment, before his normal arrogance was back on his face.

"You better watch it demon!" Fleet spat as his buddies hightailed it out of the area. "Both o' you!" He added, glaring distastefully at the both of them.

The older boy sighed, running a hand through his hair- hair, Remus now noticed, that was as long as girls' would be -and turned and looked at him.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked, and Remus started. Was he okay? Was the boy seriously asking him that after he had all those rocks chucked at him?

"I-I'm fine," Remus managed to get out over his shock. "But what about you? You're the one that had all those rocks thrown at you!" The boy managed a weak grimace.

"It's okay." He shook his head. "It's not the first time, nor will it ever be the last. But are you sure you're alright? That looks like a pretty nice shiner you have there- and I bet I wouldn't be wrong in saying that one of those kids gave it to you, would I?"

Shiner? Oh, that's right- his black eye. But nobody called black eyes shiners anymore…

"Gah," The boy pulled a face, scratching the back of his head as he probably came to his own conclusion as to how Remus got his black eye. He sighed.

"Look, don't listen to what they say, alright kid?" He told Remus. "Despite what they say, you aren't a demon or a freak. You're just unique. Sure, they may brand you, but what you need to do is wear that brand like it means nothing to you, and you don't care." He sighed again, a frustrated noise that gave Remus the impression that he didn't do something like this all that often.

"I think I understand," Remus chirruped up, to save him from the frustration. "You're saying that I should just ignore what they say about me, and be proud of what I am, right?" The other boy nodded.

"Yeah," He agreed. "It doesn't matter if you're different on the outside or the inside from people, you're all equal and you should be proud of your oddities."

"I get it," Remus nodded, before saying as well,

"Thank you!"

The guy blushed and shook his head.

"There's nothing you need to thank me for." He denied. "I was just stating a fact. If you excuse me, I need to go…" The boy started to leave when Remus realized something important.

"Wait!" Remus called out before he was too far down the road, and he raced to catch up the older boy.

"I never got your name!" Remus said. "I'm Remus Lupin; what's yours?"

The boy paused a moment, before giving a light laugh and ruffling Remus' hair a bit.

"I'm Edward Elric," He said at last. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime again kid." He turned to leave, and Remus called out to the blonde's back.

"Yeah!" Remus agreed. "And next time, those guys won't be picking on me anymore! They'll respect me because I won't care what they say about me!"

Remus didn't see Edward Elric's smile, but he positive that he had smiled by the laugh that came from the boys' throat as well as the tone of his voice when he said,

"That's the spirit kid."

And two days later, a smiling Remus got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

And throughout his whole Hogwarts career he would never forget the blonde haired golden eyed werewolf that he met that fateful day when he was ten years old who showed him that his brand was something to be proud of, and not to be ashamed of.

So, his brand through the years might be his collar, but it was never his leash.

_**~~End~~**_

I'm sorry if Ed seemed out of character. He is a hard character to write in this situation... I don't feel like I did him justice in this one shot...

_20.4.11-_ Like above, I miss stuff when I'm tired and trying to get off to stop my mum from yelling. So, I would like to add that Ed really _isn't_ a werewolf, Remus just thought he was because of his eyes... Yeah... Kay...

Please, read and review, and tell me what you thought of _**Brand.**_

~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~


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